My LCHF lifestyle - week 16

My LCHF journey continues in 2014. This is my first status update this year, but not my first article. If you haven't yet heard of my little side project, the 12 nature rules of weight loss, where I explore psychological aspects of weight loss, feel free to check them out. At the moment, the first three rules are published and I add a new rule every two weeks. You will find the articles under tab Tips & Motivation.

It's been 16 weeks now and boy I have good news! This morning, the scale couldn't quite decide between 99,9kg and 100,0kg. After a few repeated measurements, it averaged out on 100,0kg! Yes!!! I have finally reached the 100,0kg line. I can't remember exactly when was the last time I stepped on a scale and it showed less than 100,0kg. I think it must have been around 2006. After 8 years of trying all sorts of things, I'm back, and I'm totally certain I'll keep on going. Now, let's look at the numbers.

My weight and waistline progress in the past 16 weeks (click on an image for better resolution). In this time, I have lost 12 kilograms! More than on any other diet ever!

Today

(Jan 6th 2014)

2 weeks ago

(Dec 23rd 2013)

Day 1

(Sep 20th 2013)

Difference

(2 weeks)

Difference

(since day 1)

Weight

100,0kg

101,2kg

112,0kg

-1,2kg

-12,0kg

Waistline

114,5cm

115,0cm

126cm

-0,5cm

-11,5cm

Photos of "My big fat Christmas dinner" meals


Two weeks ago, just before Christmas, I published my Christmas menu. 4 delicious courses, all made in an LCHF fashion. It wasn't totally hard-core LCHF, as carbs were slightly over 20 grams, but not that much. Here are the pictures. Everything was home-cooked from basic ingredients.

Light mousse of celery and green apple

Parsley soup cooked in strong home made beef stock

Veal loin filled with porcini and cottage cheese, topped with home made beef sauce with plenty of butter

Low carb orange cake

Thank you for following this blog and giving me feedback! It helps me stay motivated and focused on new content. Expect more in about a week. Cheers!!!

My LCHF lifestyle - week 14

14 weeks or 3 months has gone by and I am excited to show you more progress. I'm still keeping on LCHF, being strict on avoiding any carbohydrates and keeping the fat intake high. But last week was special and I'd like to share my experience with you before looking at the results.

Sure doesn't!

Last week, I went on a three day fast. In three days, I probably ate less than 1000 calories. This wasn't voluntary, but a consequence of some stomach aches that I've had. Thinking about the reasons, I have narrowed them down to either slight food poisoning (I had raw seafood last Sunday) or a virus. Anyway, I got over it and what I wanted to say was that this was the easiest fasting period I've ever experienced. Despite practically not eating, I had no issues with focus and energy during the day and I was able to work normally. The only thing I needed more than usual was sleep. As a probable bonus, I may have gone back to ketosis (but this time, starvational ketosis) which I kept going after my stomach aches were gone and as a result, my weight loss rate skyrocketed. But beware, this kind of dieting isn't something I would recommend and I don't plan to voluntarily repeat it myself. Overall, it is still much better to be able to eat normally, even if the weight loss rate is slightly slower.

I am also happy to say that I am fulling taking on the festive times of December. I don't recall ever being on so many parties, being surrounded with good food and plenty of booze. I am not holding myself back, but still I have managed to loose a good bit of weight in December. No hard feelings, regrets and self-pitying for me in January I suppose B-). Now, let's look at the numbers.

My weight and waistline progress in the past 14 weeks. In the past three months, I have lost over 10 kilograms. More than on any other diet ever! Click on the picture to see it in full size.

Today

(Dec 23th 2013)

2 weeks ago

(Dec 9th 2013)

Day 1

(Sep 20th 2013)

Difference

(2 weeks)

Difference

(since day 1)

Weight

101,2kg

102,4kg

112,0kg

-1,2kg

-11,8kg

Waistline

115,0cm

115,5cm

126cm

-0,5cm

-11cm

My big fat Christmas dinner


Christmas is coming and I plan to take a full go on the Christmas eve dinner. Here is my menu:

Apparently, even Santa is not safe from
sugar.

Cold starter
Light mousse of celery and green apple

Soup
Parsley soup cooked in strong home made beef stock

Main course
Veal loin filled with porcini and cottage cheese, topped with home made beef sauce with plenty of butter

Desert
Low carb orange cake

Doesn't look like an LCHF dinner? Well, it is. There will be double cream in the cold starter, butter and cream in the soup, plenty of butter in the main course sauce and the desert will be made with almond flour, which is full of fat. There are no starches, apart from a very small 50 gram potato that I intend to put into the parsley soup to improve its texture. That and a few grams of sugars coming from green apple and orange.

Very interestingly, all the dishes on my Christmas menu originate from traditional cooking, taking the basic ideas from Slovene, Italian and French cuisine. If you are wondering how is it possible to eat all this and still keep on losing weight, than you haven't read this blog carefully enough. Or, you haven't been paying attention to your grandmother! Remember, if you take on an LCHF journey yourself, that's the food you'll be able to eat all the time. Just stay away from carbohydrates, especially all kinds of sugar. And, instead of a Chrismas carol, imagine what Santa would look like if he signed his advertising contract with The Butter Company?

Thank you for following this blog. I plan on making another post this year in the Tips & Motivation section. Until then, I wish you a merry Christmas and lovely holidays!

My LCHF lifestyle - week 12

It's been 12 weeks since I made some major changes in my diet and these changes also affected my lifestyle. My motivation for making these changes was a decade of my life constantly gaining weight. In time, I developed metabolic syndrome and was knocking on the gates of obesity. Definitively not something that I would have on my "nice to have in life" list! At the same time, my motivation to write this blog emerged from literally shocking data about what really makes us fat and gives us metabolic syndrome. I am still amazed how the mainstream medicine and media promote all sorts of solutions that only short-term effective at best. I consider myself as one of the hundreds of millions of victims of this informational misdirection, and the purpose of this blog is to bust a few commonly known, but incorrect myths.

I also received e-mails and messages from some. Thank every single one of you for not only taking time to read my blog, but also to stand out at give me feedback. I am trying to reply to everyone as much as my schedule allows me to. You can contact me either by writing your message in the comments below, or reach me on Facebook.

In the past 12 weeks, I have already written a few posts about that and more are to come, but since this is my weekly progress update, here are my numbers.

My weight and waistline progress in the past 12 weeks. Weight is going down nicely, while waistline seems to be flat. In fact, my waistline is changing for the better, but I have noticed that I was doing my measurements wrong.

Today

(Dec 11th 2013)

2 weeks ago

(Nov 25th 2013)

Day 1

(Sep 20th 2013)

Changes

(2 weeks)

Changes

(since day 1)

Weight

102,4kg

104,7kg

112,0kg

-2,3kg

-9,6kg

Waistline

115,5cm

115,5cm

126cm

0,0cm

-10,5cm

Weight

After a few weeks of slow decline, my weight fell considerably in the past two weeks and it almost matched the rate of progress I had at the beginning. I am not really sure what I did differently in the past two weeks, other than slightly increasing green vegetables in my meals. One thing is for sure: persistence pays off! In the past two weeks, I never had serious drops of motivation, but looking at the -2,3kg figure still feels like a cherry on a top of a cake, if you catch my drift ;). Also, I'll soon need to increase the span on the graph. A 98kg mark on the bottom will sure look good.


Waistline

Basically, my waistline data for the last 3 weeks or so should be ignored due to a systematic measurement error that I was doing. I measure my waistline every morning immediately after waking up and recently I have noticed that I was too tight on the meter, making the result less than my waistline really was. So I decided to keep measuring my waistline, but keeping that 115,5cm value until I actually reach it. I am getting very close to it, so I expect that in the next two weeks, I will be able to post a smaller, while still realistic number.


Holidays are coming

Eating low carb - high fat doesn't mean no desserts. Most
of your favorite desserts can be made LCHF with only
minor modifications. I am a big fan of cheesecakes such
as the one on the picture. If you are interested in the recipe,
drop me a comment or contact me via Facebook.

December is time of celebrations, spending good times with friends, accompanied by good food and drinks. One of the great things of the LCHF lifestyle is that it allows you to fully enjoy this. LCHF does not restrict alcohol, as long as you stick to dry wine and/or non-sweetened spirits, such as whiskey, vodka, cognac, rum, grappa etc. You can enjoy plenty of foods, like salads with reach fatty dressings, juicy cuts of meat, eggs and all kinds of hams, sausages and such. Cheese, sour cream and mayo are also a yes. Just keep your fingers of bread, candy, potatos, rice and pasta. And if you really have a taste for a sweet, search out Google for LCHF desserts. There are plenty of recipes out there that will make your sweet day without raising your insulin and turning you into a fat storing monkey that you once was ;).

I wish you a nice, successful and healthy week!

My LCHF lifestyle - week 10

This Monday marks the 10th week of my LCHF lifestyle. Reflecting back on the past 70 days, I can not express my gratitude to the promoters, doctors and bloggers which are doing an incredible job of clarifying LCHF diet in nutritional, biochemical and other scientific ways. Particularly: dr. Peter Attia MD, Andreas Eenfeldt MD, Sam Feltham, Robert Lustig MD, Garry Taubes and Anita Šupe - many thanks! If you haven't yet checked their websites, I suggest that you do. There ate literally loads of interesting and motivational data.

In order to celebrate and honor my 10th week, I decided to replace my weekly brag of loosing weight and getting in shape while eating delicious food, not being hungry and exercising sporadically with even more important things, which all happened in the past 10 weeks.

The good stuff:

In Sweden, LCHF is very popular! They are even
publishing a magazine dedicated solely to LCHF!
Of course, it's called "LCHF".

• In September, Swedish Expert Committee of doctors officially agreed that low carb diet is most effective for weight loss (see full article here). They also said that "such diets have greater increase of HDL cholesterol without having any adverse affects on LDL cholesterol" and that "the stricter low-carbohydrate diet will lead to improved glucose levels for individuals with obesity and diabetes, and to marginally decreased levels of triglycerides".
• Nutritional expert, personal trainer and self-experimenter Sam Feltham completed three experiments in which he has shown that at least on his body, a calorie is not just a calorie. He did two 21-day diets, where he kept his caloric intake constant and very high. One was LCHF diet and the other was junk food diet. Despite high caloric intake, he barely gained any weight on LCHF diet, while equally caloric and equally long junk food diet, he gained over 7 kilograms. On the third experiment, he returned to LCHF and reduced caloric intake to his calculated daily metabolism. He should have maintained his weight, but in fact he lost about 5 kilograms.
• American medical doctor and bestselling author Robert H. Lustig held a second lecture about sugar, more specifically, the devastating effects of fructose on public health. His first lecture has over 4 million views on Youtube. You can see the first lecture here and his second one here, I warmly suggest you to watch both of them.

The bad stuff:

If you happen to have diagnosed diabetes, your doctor
will most likely to instruct you to follow this food pyramid.
Do you see the problem? The bottom part are all insulin
raising starchy foods, while meats and fats which do not
raise insulin are on the top. No wonder we are loosing war
against diabetes.

• In United Kingdom, leading supermarkets and major food manufacturers have pledged to cut down saturated fat in their products. They didn't say what they will replace saturated fats with in order to retain flavor and texture, but the most usual scenario is to increase salt and sugar or high fructose corn syrup. I am only suspecting this, but it will lead to more cravings for food (the so called empty calories), more fructose addiction and more metabolic syndrome. If you are interested in the source of the news, here it is.
• 14.11. is annual world diabetes day. I saw plenty of talks and interviews in our local media and I was appalled to hear that our doctors are still giving the same old fashioned advice to eat low fat, low salt and low carb boring tasteless food in order to avoid the risks of diabetes. Since this advice is not only difficult to follow, but is also completely not based on recent findings of human metabolism. No wonder that the number of diabetics and overweight people is rising :(.

All in all, I think the world has done a bigger step forward than backward and that fills me with joy.

Now, my weekly progress.

My weight and waistline progress in the past 10 weeks.
Weight and waistline are keeping to go down nice and easy.

Weight

Today (Nov 25th 2013):	104,7kg
7 days ago (Nov 18th 2013):	104,9kg
LCHF Day 1 (Sep 20th 2013):	112,0kg
Weekly progress:	-0,2kg
Absolute progress:	-7,3kg

My weight is going down nice and easy. I compared the notes on my nutrition from when I started LCHF and the last couple of weeks. The difference is that in the past few weeks, I am increased consumption of dairy products, particularly creme fraiche, double cream and cheese. At the same time, I eat a bit less vegatables and oils. It just happens that I really like creme fraiche and double cream at the moment. A few LCHF experts are stating that dairy products should be consumed moderately, because they contain lactose and a protein which stimulates pancreas to release insulin. As a consequence, our bodies capabilities to burn fat are reduced and we are knocked out of optimal ketosis. I would just like to point out that I did this decision consciously, because I just happen to really like loads of creme fraiche added to my meals :).

Waistline

Today (Nov 25th 2013):	115,5cm
7 days ago (Nov 18th 2013):	115,5cm
LCHF Day 1 (Sep 20th 2013):	126,0cm
Weekly progress:	-0,0cm
Absolute progress:	-10,5cm

My waistline was pretty constant this week, but I don't mind. I am starting to notice further changes all over my body, but mostly on the face and around the neck. Bones are coming out :).

Further plans

As I expected, my progress is not as fast as it was in the very beginning of my LCHF lifestyle, when I was going down 1 kilo or even more every week. For this reason, I decided to post updates every second week. I believe it will be more interesting. This way, I will also gain some extra time to write useful articles about LCHF lifestyle, as my main intention in this blog is not bragging how easily am I loosing weight, but to provide useful information to others who want to follow the same path.
I have no special plans for week 10, other than staying low carb high fat and being careful about eating no less than 3 meals per day. I am also working on a new scientific post which will be about white sugar. I've found some very interesting facts about it and would love to share them with you!

I wish you a nice, successful and healthy week!

My LCHF lifestyle - week 9

Week 9 of my new LCHF lifestyle, which means eating meals that are low on carbohydrates and high on fat and also abstain of all kinds of processed foods, is over. Although I am through a 2 month milestone, I still feel that this is new. These last two months have given me so much good stuff and I can't wait to see what the future will bring.

Before taking a look at the usual weekly statistics, I would first like to collect all the benefits I experienced in the past two months on LCHF diet:

• my blood sugar is normal throughout the day;
• my cholesterol and triglycerides have improved;
• my skin is healthier and I have significantly reduced dandruff;
• I sleep like a log;
• I am full of energy through entire day, even if I skip a meal every now and then;
• I lost 7 kilograms of weight and 10 centimeters of waistline;
• my weight and waistline continue to decrease;
• although I have always been healthy, I can say that I haven't felt that healthy for a long long time;
• and I did all this by eating real and tasty foods made out of fresh and delicious ingredients, but with absolutely no hunger, eating schedule, cravings, exercise and no changes to my normal daily routine;

These are the reasons why I love LCHF soooo much. So, take a look at week 9 results.

My weight and waistline progress in the past 9 weeks.
The plateau that I experienced in the past weeks is gone,
and my progress sped up.

Weight

Today (Nov 18th 2013):	104,9kg
7 days ago (Nov 11th 2013):	105,0kg
LCHF Day 1 (Sep 20th 2013):	112,0kg
Weekly progress:	-0,1kg
Absolute progress:	-7,1kg

By looking at this week's progress, it may seem that I didn't have much progress. However, this and last Mondays were the peak days. During the week, my weight fell below 105kg and on Sunday, even to 103.7kg! But in the end of Sunday, I had a big dinner and this showed on Monday morning. Nevertheless, I'm feel that this week was one of the best in the past month. I think it is a lovely proof that constant efforts don't assure constant improvement. On some weeks, it is better and other, it is less good. But as long as I don't struggle, I can keep it up and overcome all short-term variations.

Waistline

Today (Nov 18th 2013):	116,5cm
7 days ago (Nov 11th 2013):	115,5cm
LCHF Day 1 (Sep 20th 2013):	126,0cm
Weekly progress:	-1,0cm
Absolute progress:	-10,5cm

My waistline progress is a clear confirmation of my "constant efforts - long term success" rule. After 2 months, I have reached my first big milestone: to loose 10 centimeters of waistline. I haven't had such waistline for years, even when I was cutting calories and exercising for months!

Plans for week 10

I have no special plans for week 10, other than staying low carb high fat and being careful about eating no less than 3 meals per day. I am also working on a new scientific post which will be about white sugar. I've found some very interesting facts about it and would love to share them with you!

I wish you a nice, successful and healthy week!

My LCHF lifestyle - week 8

50 days or roughly 8 weeks have past since my decision to make considerable changes in my diet and also in my habits related to health. I decided to go LCHF, which stands for low carb - high fat and of course, it refers to the amount of macronutrients that I eat. In the past 7 weeks, I made excellent progress without ever being hungry, bored with food or overexercised. Strangely for someone who doesn't (or wouldn't) understand LCHF, my progress has been much better than on previous diets where I was often hungry, quickly got bored with food that was allowed to eat and my muscles were sore all the time from exercising.

My weight and waistline progress in the past 8 weeks.
In the past two weeks, there seems to be a bit of a plateau
going on, but I'm not worried.

Weight

Today (Nov 11th 2013):	105,0kg
7 days ago (Nov 4th 2013):	106,0kg
LCHF Day 1 (Sep 20th 2013):	112,0kg
Weekly progress:	-0,4kg
Absolute progress:	-7,0kg

In comparison to last week, I am 0,4kg down. And I am especially happy to reach a big psychological milestone at 105,0kg. Once last week, I saw 104,9kg on the scale, but I always take 3 or 4 measurements and average them to get more reliable results.

Would you also like to loose 10cm in 8 or so weeks? The science
is on your side, just get over your idea that you couldn't do
without deserts, fruits, soft drinks, sugar in your coffee...!

Waistline

Today (Nov 11th 2013):	116,5cm
7 days ago (Nov 4th 2013):	116,5cm
LCHF Day 1 (Sep 20th 2013):	126,0cm
Weekly progress:	0,0cm
Absolute progress:	-9,5cm

Despite I lost a bit of weight, my waistline remains constant at 116,5cm. I am not worried though, because I am starting to notice changes all over my body. My face is getting leaner, my joints are narrowing and I am having a funny feeling every time I drive my car. My car seat seems to be getting bigger :). 9,5 centimeters in 8 weeks is plenty. Just take out a ruler and see what it means.

St. Martin's day

On an LCHF diet, you can clearly enjoy all
the joys of St. Martin's day with no
consequences on a scale.

I am dedicating this week's post to a day that I like a lot. It is November 11th, St. Martin's day. In Slovenia, it is a holiday of all winemakers, since on that day, grape juice turns into wine. And, because I love wine, it is also a very important day for me. It means spending a great time with friends, with great food and great wine. But in the past years, there was also a downside of St. Martin's: I gained weight. This year however, as you can see on my progress chart, it remained steady. Even though I ate all the goodies (except carbohydrates, of course) and had all the wine I could wish for. Not bad for a "holiday diet", don't you think? :)

Plans for week 9

After a holiday weekend full of celebrations and parties, I am going to take it easy this week. I'll keep watch on following the 80-20-150 formula, be on 3 meals per day and aim for about 2200 calories of daily consumption. I am not going to worry about my weight, since even 0,5kg per week along with having all this culinary fun is an excellent progress. I "hedonize" and loose weight at the same time!!! :)

I wish you a nice, successful and healthy week!

My LCHF lifestyle - week 7

Week 7 is over and here is my regular weekly progress update. You may remember that last week I introduced a strict LCHF diet where at least 80% of calories were coming from fats. I also kept carbohydrates below 20 grams, and that meant sugars and dietary fiber combined. My weight went down considerably and this week, I kept it going. So, let's look at the results first and then see my comments.

My weight and waistline progress in the past 7 weeks.
You can see my weight settling between 105 and 106kg,
but waistline is going down nicely.

Weight

Today (Nov 4th 2013):	105,4kg
7 days ago (Oct 28th 2013):	106,0kg
LCHF Day 1 (Sep 20th 2013):	112,0kg
Weekly progress:	-0,6kg
Absolute progress:	-6,6kg

As you can see, I lost 6,6 kilograms altogether and 0,6 kilograms since last Monday. Being on LCHF for seven weeks, this gives me a mean weight loss of 0,94kg per week. This is about twice as good as any other diet I've been on (they averaged about 0,5kg loss per week). However, by looking at blogs of other LCHF-ers, I found out that they loose between 1 and 2 kilograms per week. Therefore, I'll be looking for some ways to tweak my diet even further.

Waistline

Today (Nov 4th 2013):	116,5kg
7 days ago (Oct 28th 2013):	118,5kg
LCHF Day 1 (Sep 20th 2013):	126,0kg
Weekly progress:	-2,0cm
Absolute progress:	-9,5cm

While my weight was quite steady this week, my waistline certainly wasn't. A 2cm drop is an all time high. Altogether, I lost 9,5 centimeters in 7 weeks, and it shows!

So... stagnant weight and excellent decrease of waistline. What is happening?

Reasons for plateau on LCHF

Technically, a period of 4 weeks, in which neither weight nor waistline hasn't changed  is considered a dietary plateau. Since in the past three weeks, I had two weeks of slower progress, I am still far away from plateauing. But since I am rather safe then sorry, I investigated this subject a bit.

I found several reasons for plateauing on LCHF and decided to compare them against my dietary habits. So, let's take a look. Below table shows a list of possible reasons, description of my habit and conclusion about whether I am doing it right or wrong.

Reason for plateau	My dieatary habit	Conclusion
Eating too much hidden carbs	Most frequent sources of hidden carbs are processed foods, fast food, salad dressings and beer. I am not eating nor drinking any of those things. Most of my meals I prepare myself from fresh ingredients and when I am eating out, I choose my restaurants carefuly.	I'm doing it right!
Eating too much chocolate and peanuts	Dark chocolate (70% and more cocoa solids) and peanuts are allowed on LCHF as a treat, but it still doesn't take much to eat too much carbs. Anyway, I haven't eaten any chocolate since I started LCHF, and if I eat nuts, I choose macadamia nuts of almonds over peanuts.	I'm doing it right!
Eating too little	While most of the diets require cutting down calories, LCHF doesn't. On a contrary, it is suggested to eat normal daily caloric requirements. I've been monitoring my daily caloric intake and I am consistently below 2000 calories. Since my basic metabolic rate is about 2200 calories, I may be eating too little.	I may be doing it wrong!
Eating too seldom	Even though LCHF doesn't prescribe a particular dietary schedule, nutritional ketosis does. People who eat only once or twice a day may ingest too much food at the same time. This may interrupt ketosis and consequently, slow down metabolism of triglycerides. For the past two weeks, I have been mostly eating twice a day. Since my objective is to be in ketosis as much as possible, this may not have been a good decision.	I may be doing it wrong!
Eating too much	It is difficult, but not impossible to eat too much on LCHF. According to Sam Feltham's experiments, eating about 1,7 times more calories than basic metabolic rate is still OK. I am definitively not eating that much.	I'm doing it right!
Other reasons	Among other reasons for stalling, I found medications, food alergies and not drinking enough water. I don't take any medications (not even aspirins), I am not aware of any alergies and I drink according to my thirst.	I'm doing it right!

Based on above analysis of my habits, the reason for my stalling may be me eating too few calories and too few meals. So for this week, I decided to strictly eat three meals a day and to increase my caloric intake to reach my basal metabolic rate of 2200 calories.

Just think about that for a second. A dietary response to stalling is to eat more and bigger meals. If this is gonna work, that will be another myth busted :).

Plans for week 8

In week 8, I will keep eating by the 80-20-150 formula. I will strictly eat three meals a day (even if I won't be hungry and will feel like I could keep up a few more hours) and target 2200 calories per day. I will also try to obtain a device for measuring blood ketones to make sure to stay in ketosis (I've been trying to get it for the past two weeks, but no success so far - noone keeps it in stock).

I wish you a nice, successful and healthy week!